I am trying to reload for a .17 Rem. Abt 1/3 of the time it is deadly accurate, but 2/3 of the time, it spits the bullets, (Berger 25gn HP) out in pieces. They hit abt 50ft in front of the barrel. I don't think I'm too hot,(23 1/2 gn of Varget). Know of anything I can try?? I tried cleaning the bore. Thanks, Mark

I use 23/IMR4320 with a 25gr bullet never had a problem. I tried Varget in acouple rifles and never had any luck with it.

quote:

Know of anything I can try?? I tried cleaning the bore.

Hey Mark, It has been a long time since I've had a buddy with a 17Rem. I knew three guys with them and they each had varying degrees of success. At the time, I believe the only 17cal bullets available that they knew about were Remington and Hornady. "Cleaning" was indeed the issue back then.

The Bullets are so small that when I tried reloading them about as many went on the floor as got into the case-mouth due to the size of my hands, or grip, or whatever. So, I stuck with the 22cals and drop "fewer".

But, the trick to getting the 17cals really humming was when I heard about Moly Coating bullets. Lots of good info on it years ago. I got into it in an attempt to lengthen the life of a particular barrel that shoots about anything well. Also noticed that the "claims" of less barrel fouling were accurate in each rifle I tried it in.

Mentioned it to the guys with the 17Rems and the guy having the worst fouling tried it. He had pretty good results, but did not get his bore seasoned properly to start with. The other two saw his results and also got into Moly, took their time about getting a good layer of Moly in the barrel and peened into the bullets. They really were converts to Moly at that time.

Haven't seen any of the three in a long time now due to jobs moving folks around.

If you still desire to remain Moly Free, then "cleaning" often and well seems to be the best approach. I've not tried some of the new wonder "Foam" type bore cleaners since my bores just don't get dirty enough for them. But, they may just be the thing for you.

Thanks for the input guys. Are these things really that finicky?? M

Try a search on Preditor Boards or Preditor Forums. There used to be one that I went to a good bit to pick up a bunch of tips from guys that had decades of experience with them.

The Forum I went to was called "Backoutdoors.com" but it folded. Some of the guys from it started another Board, but I just never went to it.

Those guys can tell you more about 17cal rifles than you would ever want to know.

If you haven't tried the Varmint Board here as well as the Small Bore Board, you might just get excellent answers there too.

Best of luck to you.

Giladad,

your load of 23,5 grs of Varget should be fine. I have used 24,5 grs in my Rem 700 - that same load is also listed on the Hodgdon website as maximum - and it worked out fine.

You mentioned that you have tried to clean the bore off your rifle. Now, how sucessful was your try? It´s important to get that those little bores really clean. One other possibility would be to have your rifles barrel and muzzle checked by a gunsmith to make sure there are no burrs or rough spots that would cause 2/3 of your bullets to split.

BTW: You can find a lot of good information about the .17 Rem at http://www.saubier.com/ and http://www.coyotegods.com/.

gildad

Your post brought back memories. I had exactly the same problem several years ago with my first 17cal Rem Bdl.

My load was the 25 Berger HP's with a hot load of W760. On a cool WI morning the load performed well. On a hot SD morning shooting Pasture Poodles nearly all the Bergers vaporized.

After that experience, I worked up a different load using molycoated Hornady 25gr V-Max and IMR4320.
No more problems.

WN

17 cal simplicity (for me, at least) =

Moly bullets
JB
Wipe-Out

I tend to download a bit too. My V-Max's are going about 3700 with 16.5gr of IMR4227. Pressure is so low that fired brass still has a "shoulder" in the case neck from my neck sizing after fire-forming. Brass and throat out to last indefinitely, I'm hoping.

HTH

Redial

I've used 25 gr of H380 in the 17 rem for years. A clue on this cartridge come from Mike Walker the guy at remington who did so much of their development. He once said to use only a rem 7 1/2 primer, that the tests they did at remington showed that was the only consistant ignition primer for that cartridge. also chamfer the case necks a bit so the bullet gets a straight start.

Ah yes. Remington 7 1/2 primers are a must. That brings back another bad memory.

WN

Hey giladad1, I believe the guys that run the "coyotegods" site that EuroHunter mentioned are the experts from Backoutdoors.

Id first try scrubbing for copper.Especially area directly in front of the throat.Next try a different lot of bullets as sometimes it is possible to get some with slightly thinner jackets.After that would check barrel for roughness and experiment with Hornadys if they shoot as they normally will have a thicker jacket.Another test is to buy 3boxes of factory and shoot in sequence to make sure they reach target.I had same problem with one rifle and found all the factory reached target.Might help to shine up bore with a little Flitz or something of your choice.Very frustrating ,I know and is a process of elimination.Good luck and Im sure you will figure it out.